{"id":19444,"date":"2026-05-22T08:19:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T08:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/19444\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T08:19:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T08:19:19","slug":"brazilian-grieving-father-still-seeks-justice-after-airbus-air-france-guilty-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/19444\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazilian grieving father still seeks justice after Airbus, Air France guilty verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) \u2014 The Brazilian head of a victims\u2019 association for the 2009 crash of Flight 447 from Rio to Paris<\/a> said that justice has yet to be served in France\u2019s worst aviation crash after a Paris appeals court found Airbus and Air France guilty of manslaughter on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Air France<\/a> and Airbus, two of France\u2019s most emblematic companies, said in separate statements that they would appeal Thursday\u2019s ruling, potentially prolonging the legal battle for years.<\/p>\n

Brazilian<\/a> Nelson Faria Marinho, who lost his son in the crash that killed 228 passengers and crew members, said he remained unsatisfied with the verdict.<\/p>\n

The Paris appeals court on Thursday found Airbus and Air France guilty of manslaughter over the crash, and ordered the companies to pay the maximum fine of 225,000 euros (approximately $260,000) each, according to Daniele Lamy, president of a French association of victims of the crash.<\/p>\n

Lamy, who lost her son Eric in the crash, was in the courtroom throughout this trial and the original trial, and welcomed Thursday\u2019s verdict.<\/p>\n

But Marinho said he wishes to see prison sentences for the companies\u2019 executives at the time, although the case has centered on institutional rather than personal responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lost my father, my mother, brothers. It hurts a lot, but it is impossible to translate into words the pain of losing a child,\u201d Marinho said, in his home office full of newspaper clippings and photos recounting his long struggle for justice.<\/p>\n

The A330-200 plane disappeared from radar in a storm over the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, with 216 passengers and 12 crew members aboard. It took two years to find the plane and its black box recorders on the ocean floor, at depths of more than 13,000 feet (around 4,000 meters).<\/p>\n

An Associated Press investigation<\/a> at the time found that Airbus had known since at least 2002 about problems with the type of pitot tubes used on the jet that crashed, but failed to replace them until after the crash.<\/p>\n

Air France was accused of not having implemented training in the event of icing of external sensors called pitot tubes, despite the risks. Airbus was accused of not doing enough to urgently inform airlines and their crews about faults with the pitots or to ensure training to mitigate the risk.<\/p>\n

The crash led to changes in regulations for airspeed sensors and in how pilots are trained.<\/p>\n

The official investigation found that multiple factors contributed to the disaster, including pilot error and the icing over of pitot tubes.<\/p>\n

In 2023, a first instance court acquitted Airbus and Air France<\/a> of manslaughter charges, prompting an outpouring of anguish from people whose loved ones were killed in the disaster.<\/p>\n

Air France said it regretted Thursday\u2019s conviction and recognized that its appeal will prolong an already lengthy procedure, particularly for the families and loved ones of the victims, but noted that the company\u2019s criminal liability had previously been dismissed.<\/p>\n

Airbus said it would file an appeal before France\u2019s highest court in order to allow a reexamination of the legal issues raised by this case.<\/p>\n

A French pilot\u2019s union said it was satisfied with the decision. It would be \u201cunacceptable to place responsibility for the outcome of this accident solely on the pilots, without taking into account all of the systemic failures that led to the disaster,\u201d the National Union of Airline Pilots said.<\/p>\n

Victims\u2019 lawyer Alain Jakubowicz, speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, was overcome with emotion.<\/p>\n

This verdict shows \u201cthere is no fight that is unwinnable,\u201d he told French TV. \u201cEven when we are simply passengers, we can make global giants bend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in Rio, Marinho\u2019s wife Maria Eva said that the pain of losing one of her five children remains vivid, but that her faith has helped with her grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis trail of destruction left many hearts wounded,\u201d she said from her living room featuring a representation of the Eiffel Tour. \u201cBut as long as there is life there is hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Angela Charlton in Paris contributed. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) \u2014 The Brazilian head of a victims\u2019 association for the 2009 crash of Flight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13058],"tags":[8121,739,14696,13769,13773,13907,2030,13771,5,83,4615,13772,13770,30,13318,1595,90],"class_list":["post-19444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-air-france","tag-accidents","tag-air-france","tag-airbus-se","tag-alain-jakubowicz","tag-angela-charlton","tag-aviation-safety","tag-courts","tag-daniele-lamy","tag-france","tag-general-news","tag-homicide","tag-maria-eva","tag-nelson-faria-marinho","tag-paris","tag-rio-de-janeiro","tag-violence","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}